The people are great. Nice, friendly people who have been slogging off together and didn’t mind an ‘outsider’ coming into the family. Needless to say, I fit right in with the help of their warmth and eagerness to teach.

I was handed important tasks. Tasks which I wouldn’t have dreamt of handling, at least not so soon. It seemed too good to be true, to the point that I was yearning to get reprimanded for something, anything. Messy desk, messy hair, untucked shirt, whatever! Nothing. Everyday was filled with smiles, laughs, ideas and progression.

Then it happened, right at the beginning of the 2011. I made my first boo boo. 2 days later, I realised it’s important to get over a mistake as soon as you can and here’s how.

Step 1

A natural reaction after making a huge error is beating yourself up. I don’t know who’s responsible for teaching this human nature. I am cool with it, all I know is it’s better then beating someone else up for your own mistake.

You ask yourself questions like ‘How could I be so dumb?’, ‘What was I thinking?’, ‘Was I even thinking?’.

So this is step 1 not because I said so but because it is so. Strange thing is, you feel better after beating yourself up.

Step 2

I’ve learnt from the movie ‘Inception’ that your subconscious is just way cooler and way smarter than your conscious. So when you know you’re wrong and try to defend yourself, you are just going to fail. Miserably.

You’re most likely to misuse the word ‘But’ and make yourself look like one. ‘I’m sorry BUT’, ‘I know I shouldn’t have done this, BUT’, ‘I know where you’re coming from BUT’.

So step number 2 is to admit your mistake the first minute you can and get ready to bear the consequences. No Butts about it.

Step 3

If you thought beating yourself up to make yourself feel better feels good then you should try letting someone else beat you up.

This step will work meticulously after you successfully execute step 2. However, do take note that the ‘beating’ from someone else may take two forms.

First way is similar to step 1. The questions. ‘How could you be so dumb?’, ‘What were you thinking?’, ‘Were you even thinking?’.

When you hear such questions plus some insults coming from someone else, you’ll hate it. You might have tendencies to strangle the person or stop that person from talking through whatever means necessary.

In that case, you have not come across the second form.

Guilt. Which was what I got after I made my error.

No shouting. No screaming. No questions. Maybe a little, but no insults. Just don’t let this happen again. That’s it.

A smile from your superior after you make a mistake is a ticket down the guilt roller-coaster. Trust me, it’s one ride you wished it never started. Nuff said.

Step 4

Get over it. As simple as that.

What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger

So unless your mistake was jumping out of a plane without a parachute, get over it. You made it out alive. Appreciate it. Remember what you did that lead to how crappy it made you feel.

Though easier said than done, don’t ever repeat it. Second chances are given. Third chances just don’t really exist.

The faster you move on from a mistake, the faster you can carry on with your life. Don’t dwell in the past, dwelling after a fall just makes the hole a little deeper and a little harder to climb out.

I’m not going to let this setback pave my future of 2011. I strongly believe in one thing and one thing only.

If You Think You’re At the Bottom of the Bottomless Pit, Then There’s No Way Out Other Than Up.